Desmond Elliot Slammed For Telling Nigerians To Pray Against Calamities

Nollywood actor and a lawmaker representing Surulere
constituency in the Lagos State assembly, Desmond Elliot, has suffered a
backlash after he asked Nigerians to pray following the sad incidents that have
occurred in Nigeria.

Desmond Elliot stated in his tweet, that so much is happening in the country at
the moment and we need to pray for our land because something is wrong
somewhere. His tweet reads;

God have mercy , God have mercy , God have mercy.
I cannot tell what’s going on but this much I know something isn’t right
somewhere . We need to pray for our land . The calamity is too much in one week
so many lives lost . Lord have mercy on your people . Many children are not
seeing their fathers , mothers , aunts and uncles . Many left home today never
to return home . Lord have mercy !!!! PEACE IN THE LAND .. north south east and
west . Lord pour out your peace upon us once again , mercy lord have mercy . To
all lagosians , all families affected today . We may not know but o my God .
Comfort us o lord . Mmm

However the lawmaker was called out for asking people to pray, as his followers
questioned his contribution in Lagos State since he got elected. Here are some
of the exchanges below;

Zahra Buhari’s Husband Defends The President Amid National Tragedies Says He Did Not Cause It.

Ahmed Indimi has risen to defend President Buhari
after his Instagram follower called him out for posting luxury photos at a time
when Nigerians are in mourning. The drama started when the husband to Zahra
Buhari posted a photo of the luxury spot in Greece where he apparently is
having a time of his life. “Goodness lord, is this heaven?” he captioned the
photo.

Well, many people didn’t find the post pleasing, especially at a dark time in
our national history, one of the called him out, noting the various senseless
killings in the country, and more especially, those who died the tanker
explosion on Otedola Bridge yesterday in Lagos.

Businessman Stabbed To Death By Thugs In Onitsha, Market Shut Down. Photos

According to multiple reports, there is chaos in
Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra state after a main was killed earlier
today around Main Market axis. According to information gathered by National
Helm, the deceased was said to be a married business who was allegedly stabbed
to death by a group of thugs and cultists while trying to extort a motorcyclist
also known as Okada rider.

The man was reported to have defended the Okada rider as the Ikanga group of
touts along with their chairman were trying to extort money from him.

The man threatened to lock the touts up in prison as he came to the rescue of
the Okada man.

The hoodlums got angry and pounced on him - beaten him mercilessly. They
stabbed him with bottles, knives and the weapons they could lay their hands on
and left him to die in the pool of his blood.

This sparked outrage among the business community as traders shut all shops in
the country's largest market to protest the death.

MTN Now Allows The Rollover Of Data Plan Bundles As Instructed By NCC

Last week, the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC) announced data rollover policy to be implemented by all
telecommunications companies in Nigeria, including MTN, Glo, Airtel and
9mobile. However, MTN has become the first network provider to implement the
feature.

The data rollover feature allows subscribers to use their expired or unfinished
data bundle in grace period. The grace period is the second chance or time
given to a subscriber to use his or her unused data bundle.

See how the data rollover feature works

>> MTN Daily Plans valid for a day, plus 1 extra day of grace, making 2
days for the expired data to be wiped out.

Kaka Advises Neymar To Leave PSG For Madrid

The Brazilian superstar is currently in Russia with
the National team for the World Cup and is also trying to help Brazil reach the
Last round of 16, after drawing against Switzerland and a narrow win over Costa
Rica. After several months of sideline with a foot problem, the Brazilian
forward can finally play a competitive match. Despite his involvement in
Russia, Neymar’s future is still imbalance.

However, former Brazilian striker Kaka has spoken about Neymar’s future, Kaka
who also played for Real Madrid some years back, whose spell with the Spanish
giant didn’t go as plan has advised his fellow country man to sign for the Los
Blancos if actually he wants to join them, this was in an interview published
with the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Kaka continued, (This is a personal decision, If he signs for Real Madrid now,
perhaps people will say that he’s only gone to Paris to build a bridge towards
Madrid. But, if this is what he wants, he has to do it and be ready to manage
the situation, there is always a lot of pressure on him. In Brazil is amazing,
people speak about his level, class, but also about his haircut, his bags… He
is a great player but also a celebrity and it’s not easy to manager all these
things”, Kaká said, probably with his own experience.

Even if Neymar is a great player, it is still too soon to compare him with
great players like Pelé: “It is early to tell. Neymar is 26 years old and he is
arriving to be mature. He is one of the candidates to win the Ballon d’Or Award
in the next years because he’s growing”. Kaká also spoke about his rivals
Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi: “Because of the age, they have to go down
physically. But we cannot tell when this will happen. Cristiano is 33 and he is
a positive surprise, it’s a privilege to see what he is doing in a football
pitch).

If Neymar should join Real Madrid, it will a great deal for the Spanish giants
who want a rightful replacement of Cristiano Ronaldo. The move will make Madrid
more formidable in Europe and La Liga as well.

Goran Bunjevcevic dead: Former Tottenham Hotspur defender dies at the age of 45

Former Tottenham defender Goran Bunjevcevic has died, aged 45.

A classy centre-back during his playing career, Bunjevcevic was a well thought-of football official and was elected to the board of the Serbian FA in 2016 but suffered a stroke in April of this year and had been in a coma ever since.

Aleksandar Kolarov dedicated Serbia’s winning goal against Costa Rica in their World Cup opener to the popular executive only last week.

Bunjevcevic began his professional career during a turbulent time in the Balkans and was forced to move to Belgrade where he would eventually make the leap to becoming a professional. He worked his way up through lower-league sides, eventually signing for one of Serbia’s big two - Red Star Belgrade.

After over 100 appearances for the 28-time champions he was bought by Tottenham as a replacement for Sol Campbell and went on to spend five years at White Hart Lane.

A delegation from the Serbian team had visited Bunjevcevic in hospital after his stroke but despite emergency surgery the former Yugoslavia international never regained consciousness and Red Star announced his death late on Thursday night.

Woman Finds Salamander In Her Pot Of Soup (Photos)

A woman was shell shocked after a cooking tragedy
was averted. It was revealed that the woman found a lizard in her food while
preparing the sumptuous meal for her family. No one knows what would have
eventually happened to her and her family had they eaten the meal with the
little reptile mixed in the pot of soup.

The woman has now called for caution among other women to be careful when
cooking to avert this kind of unpleasant situation.

Below is what she wrote;

" God saved my life.I finished cooking my seed sauce. I had to crush the
condiments now. By the time I mixed the sauce I see a lizard (Salamander) in my
sauce. When I think my whole family would die that day because of me. I throw a
call to all women to be careful when they cook "

$322m Abacha Loot: FG Begins Cash Transfer To Poor Homes..

The federal government says it will commence
disbursement of the recovered $322 million Abacha loot through Conditional Cash
Transfers (CCT) to 302,000 poor households in 19 states in July.

Tukur Rumar of the National Cash Transfer Office (NTCO), said this at a
roundtable on assets recovery organised by the Swiss Embassy on Thursday, in
Abuja.

The event was organised to intimate citizens and Civil Society Organisations
(CSOs) on the efforts both nations were making on asset recovery after the
Post-Global Forum on Assets Recovery (GFAR) held in Washington D.C. in December
2017.

At the forum, Nigeria made commendable commitments on beneficial ownership, tax
transparency, asset recovery, transparency management of recovered funds and
payments to victims of corruption.

According to Mr Rumar, the benefiting households will receive N5,000 monthly
and are derived from the National Social Register (NSR) that the 19 states are
already on.

He said the programme was designed to also train beneficiaries on livelihood
skills, social skills and other programmes that would change their lives
completely.
Mr Rumar, however, said NCTO had been making payments to the 46,000 poor and
vulnerable households across the 19 states since December 2016, adding that the
number had increased to 290,000.

Iorwa Apera, the National Coordinator, National Social Safety Net Coordinating
Office (NASSCO), said 503,055 households were already on the NSR register from
the 19 states, adding that by July, there would be a social register for all
the states of the federation.

He said of the Abacha loot, about 302,000 poor homes across the 19 states would
be mined by the NCTO to begin to receive the Abacha loot.

Mr Apera told the participants that the federal government would begin with
those states, because they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
NASSCO to put in place certain infrastructure to empower the national register.

“Some of the states delayed, but the other ones were quick enough to set up
infrastructure that allowed us to start work there, but all the states are now
on board as they have set up their state operating offices and donated office
equipment to us.

“As states come on board, we enroll and so they extend to the beneficiary
register, and presently we are generating data in all the states now,’’ he
said.
Linda Ekeator of the office of the Special Adviser to the

President on Social Investment said the Abacha loot was invested in the social
investment programme, because it was a programme that was already supported by
the World Bank.

She said before the money was returned to Nigeria, there was an agreement with
the Swiss government that it should be used for alleviating poverty and this
was to be done with the supervision of the World Bank.

The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Eric Mayoraz, said the $722 million of the
Abacha family money that was hidden in Switzerland was fully repatriated in
2005.

He also said that the $322 million that was repatriated in December 2017, was
money that was frozen by the Swiss Attorney-General, but was not domiciled in
Switzerland, but in other countries, mainly Luxembourg.

He, however, said measures had been put in place to ensure that Swiss banks
were not used to hide stolen funds from other countries.

“For possible new cases, the Swiss legislation has fundamentally changed.

“The law in Switzerland does not allow bank secrecy anymore, and all banks and
financial institutions have a due diligence duty to ask everyone coming with
money where it is coming from.

“That does not mean that there are no illegal or stolen assets now in
Switzerland, but then there is another instrument I signed myself with the
Nigerian Ministry of Justice and Switzerland two years ago on mutual legal assistance
and this is for new cases.

“Now, this agreement with our own Ministry of Justice and Nigeria is that there
will be direct communication and exchange on mutual legal request and we are
really collaborating with EFCC and other agencies in Nigeria,’’ Mr Mayoraz.

The Executive Director, ANEEJ, David Ugolor, said for Nigerian citizens to not
keep spreading rumours about the whereabouts of recovered loots, the government
must be transparent in all the processes.

He also said CSOs should be given access to the social register to enable it
monitor properly whether or not the beneficiaries received what was due to
them.

“Indeed dreams do come through, never settle for less. Hard work pays. Despite
all hurdles I made it. I am proud; I am my father's daughter.”

Speaking on her challenges, the latest graduate said, “I must confess, being a
foreigner was not easy at first. Another thing was that it was difficult to
understand their flow of English intonation.

“Also, the system was different from Nigeria’s. We had to go to school from
Monday till Sunday, spending at least eight hours. But, above all, I am glad I
made my country, state and my community proud,” a visibly elated Miss Oche told
IDOMA VOICE.

On the secret on her success, she said, “I owe it all to God; he’s the secret
of my success. Hard work also played a vital role in my achievement.

“Passion and my parents remain my biggest motivations. Being the first child, I
had wanted to make my family proud and I did, eventually. My dream is to also
serve humanity,” she added.

Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper office

Authorities were responding Thursday afternoon to a shooting at the Capital Gazette, a newspaper in the Maryland capital, Annapolis, officials said. A reporter at the Capital Gazette told The Baltimore Sun, which owns the Capital Gazette, that multiple people had been shot.

Anne Arundel County Police along with the Baltimore office of federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said they were responding to the shooting. Phil Davis, a Gazette reporter, told The Sun that multiple people had been shot.

Police said on Twitter said that the building had been evacuated and that officers were continuing to search it.

The Baltimore Sun said police had also been sent to its headquarters.

A shooting took place at the Capital Gazette offices in Annapolis, Maryland, on Thursday.NBC News

A city official confirmed that there was a shooting on Bestgate Road, where the newspaper building is located, but did not confirm any more details, like the number of those injured.

In one recent case, a 51-year-old mother and her two adult daughters blacked out simultaneously after drinking a shot of tequila. In another, a couple in their mid-60s vomited and blacked out after two margaritas. And in yet another, a woman from Los Angeles — who had not been drinking — was taken to jail for trying to help a woman who was blacking out in the pool.

Since early July of 2017, the Journal Sentinel has heard from more than 170 travelers describing injuries, illnesses and deaths after drinking alcohol at resorts and in tourist towns in Mexico.

Travelers have reported blacking out after drinking small and moderate amounts of alcohol — in some cases, one drink — and regaining consciousness to find they were robbed, assaulted, hospitalized and taken to jail.

Many reported encountering unhelpful or hostile resort workers, hospital staffers and police officers. And many said the U.S. Department of State offered little to no help. Travelers found that U.S. officials in counselor offices in Mexico were slow to respond, were not allowed to help investigate crimes, offer legal advice or even translate the language for them, the Journal Sentinel investigation uncovered.

The majority of the resorts reached by the Journal Sentinel said they were aware of the incidents, investigated them but could find no evidence of tainted alcohol or foul play. The Mexican government, however, in February shut down two black market tequila distilleries and confiscated nearly 20,000 gallons of illegal tequila.

Tests found more than 235 gallons of that supply contained dangerous levels of methanol. Methanol, sometimes called wood alcohol, is commonly used in windshield washer fluid and as a solvent and is extremely toxic even in small quantities.

Mexican authorities in Quintana Roo, the home state of Cancun and the Riviera Maya, in January began offering free interpreters and translating services for tourists needing to file police reports.

“We have seen progress from the Government of Mexico, and increased coordination and willingness to address this issue,” a spokeswoman for the State Department told the Journal Sentinel in an email. “We are exploring other ways to assist U.S. citizens in Mexico and continue to raise our concerns with the Mexican authorities.”

Emma Otika Attacked, His Head Broken In Anambra State (Graphic Photos)

There was pandemonium earlier today after a
chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was attacked and
injured following a crisis rocking the party at Dunukofia Local Government Area
in Anambra State. The deputy chairman of the Party, Mr. Emma Otika, had his
head broken during the violent attacks..

According to reports, the violence was recorded at Awka when APGA Dunukofia
Working Executive compromising of Local Government Executives and and all
Fourteen Ward Executives went on protest march at APGA State Secretariat and
Anambra State House of Assembly Complex Awka.

12 Ways To Make Up With Your Girlfriend And Show Her You Truly Care

Learning how to make up with your girlfriend the
right way can take some time. Navigating those rough waters is a lot easier
with some help, though.
So you got in a fight. Big deal. It happens to every couple out there and it’s
not the end of the world – or the relationship. It just means you have
differing thoughts and opinions about something. If you don’t make an effort to
figure out how to make up with your girlfriend, issues can arise.

But that’s not always as easy as it sounds. When couples argue, tension is on
the rise and rational thinking doesn’t always find a place. Being able to make
up after a fight and get back to a loving place can take time to learn.

Relationships are all about the give and take

This applies to almost every area of your relationship. You can’t just be with
someone and expect them to always give in to your requests and opinions. In
order to make it work and remain healthy, there has to be some level of give
and take.

Otherwise, one person will just resent the other. The more you take, the less
the other person is going to want to give you. This creates friction and enough
of that, and your relationship will burn down into a pit of charred misery.

How to make up with your girlfriend and keep your relationship healthy

If you truly want a happy relationship, then your goal should be a HEALTHY
relationship. And that means knowing how to make up with your girlfriend in a
way that not only keeps her happy, but in a way that also provides a learning
opportunity for you as a couple. Here’s how to nail that down.

#1 Take a breather. You’re no good to her if you’re heated and still angry.
People do dumb things out of anger and you never want to do something you might
regret simply because you’re in a fight.

So go take a break. Calm yourself down and then return to her when the two of
you can actually talk things out. Being able to step away can also help you see
things more clearly and help you think rationally about the situation.

#2 Discuss the argument. And when I say, “discuss,” I mean actually sit down
and talk about it like adults. No yelling. No slamming doors. You have to be
able to talk about it in normal tones or else you won’t be able to make up with
your girlfriend. So calm down enough to get to this level and then go to her.

#3 Put your own thoughts aside while you listen. Let her explain herself. Just
like you want to get your own thoughts out, so does she. She deserves the
opportunity to tell you why she feels a certain way. So put your own thoughts
aside as she does this so you’re not constantly putting her down even in your
mind.

#4 Acknowledge your part in the argument. Two people are always at fault for
one reason or another. If you always claim innocence, you’ll never be able to
make up with her. Acknowledge what you did and even apologize for it in order
to make up with your girlfriend.

#5 Apologize for anything harmful you did. And even what you said. There are
things you may have did or said in the heat of the moment that’ll make it
harder for you two to get back to a peaceful state. Apologize for the things
you did wrong and just own up to them. It’ll help you get back on her good
side.

#6 Try to understand where she’s coming from. It’s easy to be selfish in
arguments. You have something to say and you’ll be damned if it won’t be heard.
But you have to take a step back and think about things the way she’s
explaining them. Understand why she feels the way she does and it’ll help you
solve the issue at hand.

#7 Put yourself in her shoes. Take the previous tip a step further and actually
put yourself in her shoes. You may not be able to understand what she’s talking
about from the way you’re looking at things.

Think about how you’d feel if you were her. Think about how things would look
if you were in her position. This is a great way to see how your actions can be
completely construed given how they’re seen.

#8 Talk about what’s really bothering you. Most arguments are a result of a
much larger issue. It’s like you hit a wall and can’t hold anything back
anymore. So although you may have left the toilet seat up again, your girl
could be upset for bigger reasons.

You have to talk about the things that are really upsetting the both of you.
This might not be something you can do right away but it is beneficial to work
on communication in your relationship as a whole. It’ll help you figure out how
to make up with your girlfriend a lot easier.

#9 Initiate some physical contact. After feelings have simmered and you’re
actually talking, go ahead and make some physical contact. Hold her hand or
place your hand on the small of her back. You can even hug her. Just don’t do
this while tension still runs high.

#10 Do something nice for her. Getting her flowers as a replacement for, “I’m
sorry” is never a good idea. That being said, if your argument is over but
there are still hurt feelings, do it. Get her something you know she’ll love as
a means of showing her just how much you want to make things right.

#11 Show her you’re sorry. It’s not always enough to just say so. Your actions
have to change – but so do hers. It really depends on what your arguments were
about. But if you’re looking to know how to make up with your girlfriend, you
may have been in the wrong here. Show her a difference and she’ll forgive you.

#12 Give her some time to simmer down. You can’t just keep running at her with
apologies and stuff she doesn’t want to hear. You have to give her time to relax
and get to a place where she can discuss things. If you don’t, she might just
be too irritated to accept any form of apology.

The worst thing you can do is let your arguments and fights go on without
trying to make them better. These tips will help you figure out how to make up
with your girlfriend and actually improve your relationship.